Welcome to Vansformation Episode 20!

Following up from VF 19, which explored 5 reasons NOT to put a woodburning stove into your vehicle conversion, this episode brings 5 reasons you should consider it.

This episode features:

• Safe installation and use of a solid fuel heater in a van conversion
• What woodburner size is right to keep you toasty warm in a campervan
• Considerations for the design of your space around the woodburner
• Why I unabashedly love it and personally feel it can be a safe choice if approached with some precautions
  
  

Merry Crimblewinter, the 2nd series of Vansformation starts today! 

All rested up after the break, the show’s theme for the next year is more: more solo episodes, more interviews, more of the time.  Campervan builders self-builders, van converters and anyone who dreams of a land ship of your own making, welcome in.

Almost a year after this podcast launched the podcast kicks off with one of two episodes on one of the dark arts of van conversion:  wood burning stoves.   Also known as woodstoves or multifuel heaters, they are beloved by some van self-builders and considered a sign of very poor judgement by others.   But, what are the real considerations behind whether they are a good idea for your vehicle conversion or not? 

Today I talk about 5 very good reasons not to put a woodburning stove in your van.     Time stamps (one of the many cool things starting in Series 2) :

Intro, including stating the obvious by way of a disclaimer - 1:36

Reason 1: Cost - 4:05

Reason 2: Monitoring and safety - 5:39

Reason 3: Fire fiddly-ness - 7:04

Reason 4: Weight 9:16

Reason 5: Campsite problems: 10:34

Stay tuned for the next episode for the opposite view – 5 good reasons it is to put a woodburning stove in a vehicle, plus installation tips and the science behind them.   And, we all know science makes a holiday tipple and a figgy pud even better.

Rob and Emily are a young couple who just completed a beautiful self-built nautical style Mercedes Sprinter van conversion.  Rob enjoyed the project so much he has started to take a few commissions to help others enjoy a custom campervan conversion.

Their van was designed for long-term use from the beginning.  They plan to move into it this coming Spring for extended vanlife adventures as they travel the UK and Europe.

Tune in to hear about their most important features on a campervan designed for extended travel, how they worked through a major build failure and their preparations for vanlife.

Related Links

Rob and Emily's website, The Road is Our Home

VF Episode 18, Interview with Greg Virgoe on Insulation

Tomislav Perko's TED Talk, How to travel the world with almost no money

Jon is a graphic designer with a history of interesting mechanically oriented projects, including building a close replica of a 1953 MG TF (from a Triumph Herald base vehicle).

He’s now on his third van conversion, a Vauxhall Vivaro purchased as an unfinished project.   'Sylvester' the van is now complete, and was recently featured in Campervan magazine.

Jon talks about making a medium size van feel spacious, adding upcycled vintage details to the conversion and his recent experiences renting out his van. 

Tune in for creative conversion ideas with copper tubing, the charming awning his partner made and mounting solar panels on a pop-top roof.

Pete and Alfie are the dynamic duo behind 'Pete's Pizzas', a mobile catering business that brings wood-fired pizzas to events.  Their wood-fired pizza oven is on a trailer towed behind a lovingly styled vintage aesthetic self-built campervan.

All of this despite:
Pete nor Alfie being formally trained pizza chefs
and
Pete himself describing past DIY attempts as 'grim'

But, they took action, pulled in resources and knowledge from elsewhere and went after their van and pizza business with enthusiastic experimentation.

We talk about converting a van as part of a start-up enterprise, how they did it and a little about good pizza. Listen in to find out the mistakes they learned from the most and how you can do this too.

If you are ever in Suffolk, they often have their (delicious!) pizza at a farm café there, catch them on the socials to find out where they are going next.

Relevant Links

Pete's Pizza website
Blue Rabbit Caféin Suffolk, England - where Pete's Pizza often makes an appearance
Pete's Pizza: Twitter, Instagram, Youtubeand Facebook

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Today’s guest is Kate Powell, one half of the duo behind The Errant Stage, a mobile performance venue with drop down stage build on a bright red Iveco Luton van base.   Kate is a puppeteer and theatre facilitator who has done the van conversion herself, along with several friends and family.   

The Errant Stage will be doing the Big Red Poetry tour at Wandsworth Fringe Festival next week, featuring live and pre-recorded performances as well as a creative writing workshop and open mic session.

Kate talks about building a dual purpose van conversion which incorporates a public facing activity and private living quarters.  She also shares how she painted the van and gives behind the scenes tips on using crowd funding to enable a van conversion as part of a larger innovative service or arts project.

Vansformation Episode 11 shownotes:
http://vansformation.com/11/

Today’s episode features an interview with Simon Newbury.  Simon is a designer who has been living in and creating gorgeous small spaces for over a generation.

Even though you are unlikely to know his name, if you have ever looked at campervan builds on Pinterest, you will have seen his beautiful self built Mercedes Vito campervan Finn.

This is the second of two ‘café conversations’ in the run up to the Camp Quirky handmade campervan festival.

In this episode we talk making a van conversion budget stretch, creating an effective campervan design, heating systems and more from his generation of experience.

If you are listening to this episode when it premieres, there is still a chance for tickets to see Simon at myself at Camp Quirky.  He will be discussing heating systems and I’ll be doing a workshop on van conversion planning.

Bit of a different format this week - one of two podcast cafe chat episodes over the next few weeks.   In this 'prequel' episode 8 I have a conversation with Cat Large.  

She is the founder of Cat Upholstery custom trimming service in central Bristol, England.  (As she explains in the episode the 'trimmer' does all the elements of a vehicle's interior upholstery, not just cutting it!)  Together with her husband, John, she has converted a yellow delivery van into ‘The Honeybee’, a bee-themed campervan.

We discuss partnering with a professional to outsource upholstery work in your van and top tips working with soft furnishings yourself in a van conversion. Cat also talks about how the bright yellow colour of the van became an inspiration to use their van to provide an educational experience.

Camp Quirky: Handmade Campervan Festival 2018 tickets

Cat Upholstery website and Instagram

The Honeybee van:
Hire it out here
Youtube videos by Tiny House Giant Journey, featuring The Honeybee van, here and here
Feature in a Quirky Campers Blog

Graham Kelly bought his self-built LDV postal van for European adventures with his wife before having children, but soon found himself radically rebuilding the van to meet the needs of 3. He is also the club secretary and forum moderator for the Self-Build Motor Caravan Club (SBMCC).

Graham met the challenges of multiple leak repairs, rust and completely reconfiguring his van with the support of his wife Gemma.  

Now the van is still going strong and has become a 4th of the family (or is the son the 4th member, as the van technically came first?).

He also talks about the SBMCC and how inspirational this group has been to him during the course of the van build.

Highlighted Links
Self Build Motor Caravan Club (SBMCC) 
Blog post featuring Graham's van - look for the red LDV and the young model!

This episode of the Vansformation podcast features an interview with Tim Brassey, who was starred on George Clark’s Amazing Spaces for his American School Bus to motorhome conversion.  Van conversions are a long standing British tradition, but Tim’s bus is the first ‘Skoolie’ officially registered as a converted motorhome in the UK.

We talk about about design, overcoming build challenges, and a bit of improv when Tim had to figure out how to remove the steering wheel sharpish at the initial bus inspection.  He also dishes a little about what it feels like to be involved as the subject of a design-build television programme.

Tim’s determination to find a solution to every obstacle has resulted a groovy rolling festival-ready retreat.  Listen in and enjoy the show.

Show notes and highlighted links are at Vansformation.com